What I will remember about 2008

1. First time we did not do our tour of duty/visitations during CNY because both sons were ill with high fever.

2. First overseas holiday trip with Peanut - so looking forward to the next with both Peanut and Sweet Potato

3. First time I saw cherry blossoms in Washington, US

4. My mum turned 70 and had a dinner celebration

5. China hosted the Olympics - the opening show was awesome, lavishly extravagant - a sheer demonstration of China's political will and might.

6. F1 came to Singapore - urr, what was all the fuss for? To me, it was inconveniences. Just glad that my office is not at Suntec or nearby.

7. First visit with Sweet Potato to A&E at KK Children Hospital at 1am the day after Peanut's birthday celebration - the funniest coincidence was he was issued with '369' as registration number. The number in Hokkien reads ''Salakau" and is his nickname endearingly coined by my sister. It is the name of a secret society, not a flattering nickname, I'm afraid. See Wikipedia's entry for more details on the gang.

8. Babies die from milk laced with melamine and all sorts of diary products, biscuits and snacks were removed from supermarket shelves in Singapore and Hong Kong.

9. US has its first black President - what an inspiring victory speech. And about time that US has an intellectual and intelligent political leader. Hopefully, he'll go down in history as a wise and inspirational leader and not one who had a shoe (or 2) thrown at him.

10. 100 year-old companies disappear overnight and banks stop lending to one another. Totally unheard of.

11. Singapore lost its first citizen to acts of terrorism outside the country. It could have been anyone of us who travel quite a bit for work ... Time to top up life policies ...

What a year! Wonder what's in store in 2009 ...

The Bros

Be honest - Are You a Bad Guy?

Are You a Bad Guy

This a game devised by Peanut. He would come to one of us and ask, "Are you a bad guy?". If the answer is "yes", it means you have surrendered yourself to engage in a gun shoot-out and he would chase you around the house with his pointed finger as his weapon of destruction. If the answer is "no", he would move on to his next target/victim. Ummm ... how do you explain to a 3.5 y.o that a bad guy will not admit that he is one under ordinary circumstances ...

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Favourite Words

His favourite words for the week are "enemy", "disappointed" and "capsicum" - yes, you are right, there is absolutely no logical nexus except that they contain 3 syllables and more, but he happens to like the sound of these words. Illustration of how the word "disappointed" is used:

"Mama, you are on fire. I'm the fireman. I put out the fire. You are disappointed." I don't have the heart to tell him that he has used it wrongly ^-^

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Bargaining

This morning's exchange:
"Peanut, get up, it's time for school."
"I want to sleep some more. 10 more minutes."
"Mama is late for work."
"5 more minutes?"
"Remember the music on the radio (the alarm). I have let you slept for another 10minutes."
"1 minute?"
Isn't it wonderful to start a working day by engaging in a bargaining session? Just what I need to prepare me for the rest of the day ... But he's really sweet, he kept to his end of the bargain and jumped out of bed after a mere 10 seconds.

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Weekend conversation in the car

We were on the way to pick up my mum for our weekly marketing:

"Popo's house is far away"
"No, it is near. Yipo's house is far away."
"Hmm. Airport is far away."
"Yes, that's right"
"Hong Kong is far away."
"Yes, Hong Kong is far away. We have to take an aeroplane."
"I want to sit aeroplane"
"Ok"
"Sit aeroplane, not see aeroplane"
"Ok"
"Must bring passport"

I was amused beyond words ...
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Sweet Potato's Dictionary of Words

Slowly but surely, here is my 17months and 1 week old's growing list of words (in sequence):

1. Den-deng - I know this can't really count as a word; it's more like a sound effect to announce something ...but that's how it started

2. O-oh - yes, another sound effect when something drops or breaks whether by accident or by design

3. Kor kor - Loud and clear. Yes, that's officially the first word and it ain't papa nor mama. Obvious who he adores most.

4. There - Most well used, represents everything, answers to what, where, when, how and why; complemented with a stretched out hand and a pointing finger.

5. Papa - Said with much affection and oft repeated in pairs if not triplets
6. Yeye - Ditto

7. Mama - Sparingly used; only for desperate occasions like to get out of the high chair when no one else is around.

8. Wait - Said and executed with amazing effect; like someone has pressed the 'Pause' button on the remote control. So glad that I taught him this word.

9. Nish - It is short for 'finish'; replaces the wrist-turning movement which represents 'no more'.

10. Nai Nai - initially said with a flat tongue hanging out.

11. Hot - Another useful word

12. Eat / egg / step / go / duck /head

Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar

In my adult life, there are 2 areas I suddenly find myself very ill-equipped and lacking knowledge in - dealing with pregnancy and parenting. During my first pregnancy, both husband and I were desperately browsing book shops, surfing the net, reading up and faithfully following "Super Nanny" on TV. My husband even bought 2 DVDs by Dr Harvey Karp - "The Happiest Baby" and "Happiest Toddler on the Block"; the latter was quite a favourite with toddler Peanut who enjoyed watching his contemporaries.

Now, there are a few precisous lessons which I learn and find very useful from "Super Nanny":

1. Be firm and consistent when setting boundaries

2. Spend dedicated time with each child - it makes him feel special and if I may add, do wonders in avoiding unnecessary attention-seeking mischief.

3. A rewards chart - a tool to achieve pre-set goals, will tell you more in another blog entry.

Am particularly religious with the 2nd lesson as Peanut is a sensitive kid. Every evening, or almost every evening, I'd spend individual time with each kid. And once a few months, we would have our special outings with Peanut alone - holiday trip to Hong Kong, dining out and recently attending a concert. I enjoy these outings as much as Peanut, especially the last.

It was a puppet show by Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia from Canada, comprising of 3 stories illustrated by Eric Carle - The Little Cloud, The Mixed Up Chameleon and The Very Hungry Caterpillar, especially for young kids. It had all the right elements - brightly coloured props and settings, lots of enthusiastic kids (who kept asking, "where's the caterpillar" throughout the 1st 2 acts, named every shape the clouds form and every animal that the Chameleon met at the zoo), engaging narration, interesting stories. They even had a Q&A at the end to explain how they work the puppets - so thoughtful; otherwise poor parents, like me, will be struggling to explain the intricacies of the art and trying to answer all the 'whys'!

Peanut enjoyed the performance so much that he kept asking to watch again. It was a huge improvement from his first concert attendance. Here are some photos from the Q&A. I was so engaged that I forgot to take photos of the earlier part on the caterpillar - alamak.

23 November

Someday ... in my twilight years, I hope to attend musicals and dance performances in the arms of a young man who not only do it because I ask him to, but because he truly enjoys the experience.

Papa's broken armchair is my ...

The original version goes like this:

"Row row row your boat

Gently down the stream

Merrily Merrily Merrily

Life is but a dream"

I was so amused when I heard Peanut's adapted version. In case, you have difficulty making it out, here goes:

"And when you see a crocodile, don't forget to scream. Help!"